Recent studies have shown that driving while texting on a cell phone is more dangerous than driving while intoxicated. Older studies have linked higher traffic accident rates to talking on cell phones while driving.
However, some people use their cell phones for business and do not want clients or customers to wonder why they did not call back right away. Other people just want to be able to respond promptly in some fashion without endangering themselves or others so the person calling them or texting them knows what is going on or does not start to worry since the person normally responds right away to a text or phone call.
An article in a Nov. 22, 2009 Dallas newspaper described a subscription system called ZoomSafer™ that renders driving when a cell phone is present safer. The system uses the GPS on the phone to detect when the user is driving and then disables the cell phone until the driver stops the car. This system is believed to shut off the user's phone while the user is driving. The problem with such a system is that the user may wish to know who is calling or texting, and, if the call or text is important enough, pull over, stop the car and answer the text or call.
Other companies such as GM assume that drivers' judgment can be trusted and they have implemented handsfree Onstar™ systems to voice dial numbers that have been previously stored and given a nametag by pushing the Onstar phone button and asking the user to speak the nametag. The system then automatically dials the phone number stored in the car's computer using a cell phone built into the car and minutes purchased from Onstar. GM has also implemented Bluetooth™ systems to dial the phone owned by the user by coupling the user's cell phone to the car's audio system and allowing the user to dial a number from a keypad displayed on the navigation system display of the vehicle or from the cell phone or cell phone address book. The audio of the call is played through the car's audio system and a microphone in the car picks up the driver's voice and couples it to the cell phone for transmission using the Bluetooth system. Ford and Microsoft are selling systems that rely on voice commands to dial phones. The systems that disable the cell phone using the GPS have caught the attention of the insurance companies because studies show that driving while talking on a cell phone is dangerous even if the driver is using a headset and has both hands on the wheel. One insurance company has said it will offer discounts to customers who use a call-blocking service to disable their phones. Other companies such as Aegis Mobility and obdEdge employ systems that place restrictions on phones based upon the phone's GPS signal, data from the car itself or from nearby cell towers. Any incoming calls are routed to voice mail or a message explaining that the phone's user is driving. Exceptions can be made for certain numbers. The exceptions are the only control the user of the cell phone has in these systems to allow a call to come through. This puts too much restriction on the driver to anticipate who might be calling and gives the driver no option to see the caller IDs of all incoming calls and decide whether or not to pull over and take the call or just take the call while driving and take the risk.
Another prior art feature found in some phones is called “Quick Text” and it features a menu from which the user can choose “canned” (already typed and stored in the phone) responses to send in response to a text message received. In a “Quick Text” capable phone, all the steps to reply to a text message must be done as they are normally done, but with a few extra keystrokes, the user can choose a message that has already been typed instead of having to type a reply message. That is, the user receives a notification that a text (SMS) message has arrived, does a keystroke or two to select the text application program and select the text message to view, does a keystroke to put the phone into reply mode but then the user may do another keystroke to open a menu of canned messages to send as a reply. Typically, this is a keystroke to select an “Options” icon (give a command to open a menu which includes a command “Add Quick Text”). Then another keystroke is required to select the “Add Quick Text” command. This keystroke brings up a list of canned messages that can be selected and sent such as “thanks”, “yes”, “no”, etc. One or more keystrokes or scrolling action or trackball action is then required to select the canned message to send and then another keystroke is required to put the canned message into the reply screen as the message to be sent. Then another keystroke is required to actually send the canned message just selected. That is quite a few keystrokes and requires too much attention to the phone, its display and its keypad. It would be too many keystrokes and diverted attention to do while driving and still drive safely.
A published Korean Patent Abstract of an unexamined Korean Patent application published under publication number 1020040082363 on Sep. 24, 2004 teaches a mobile phone for “automatically making a character response during a conference” so as to automatically inform a cellular caller about a situation where the callee [sic] cannot take the call. When a cellular call is received during a situation when the called party cannot take the call, the called party presses a special button or performs a special manipulation on a key of the mobile phone. A memory stops receiving the call immediately, and a predetermined suitable character string is read from the memory and then sent to a phone number of the caller who made the incoming cellular call.
Recently, a series of ads run by AT&T have raised public awareness of the dangers of texting while driving. Some cellular phone manufacturers are starting to respond. In the iOS6™ operating system which started shipping in iPhones™, iPads™ and iPod™ Touch™ devices in October 2012, there is a Reject a Call With a Text Message feature to reject an incoming cell call with a text message. When an incoming cell call arrives, the traditional Decline and Answer “buttons” (areas of the touchscreen labeled Decline and Answer, respectively) are displayed on the touchscreen of the display. To the right of those buttons, a small phone icon is displayed. Swiping that phone icon upward on the touchscreen causes two more areas or “buttons” to be displayed on the touchscreen, one labeled Reply with Message and the other labeled Remind Me Later. The Remind Me Later button does not send an automated text message reply. It just automatically schedules a reminder to call that person later. Touching the Reply with Message button brings up three canned (pre-typed or predetermined) text messages the user can select from to have the phone automatically send to the caller (the caller is automatically sent to voicemail when the Reply with Message button is touched). The three canned messages are “I'll call you later”, “I'm on my way” and “What's up”. A fourth button labelled Custom allows the user to compose a text on the fly. The canned messages can be changed by going to Settings/Phone/Reply with Message.
There has therefore arisen a need for a simple, fast, safe way for the user of a cell phone who is driving to know who is calling or texting, and, with a single push of a button, send a pre-typed message to a text sender or a pre-recorded voice message to a caller who is calling in while the owner of a cell phone is driving or otherwise engaged if the driver chooses not to take the call or reply to the text while driving and chooses not to pull over and take the call or reply to the text.